Eagles DC Bill Davis Stands Up for How Chip Kelly Treats Players

Eagles defensive coordinator Bill Davis was asked Monday about how Chip Kelly relates to players, in the wake of allegations that Kelly is too much of a control freak or even has trouble relating to black players, Les Bowen of the Philadelphia Daily News reports. Davis said the criticisms make little sense to him.

Eagles running back Kenjon Barner, who played for Kelly at Oregon, had a similar take. Barner is one of eight former Ducks on the current Eagles roster, three of whom are African-American.

“He’s outstanding,” Davis said as the Eagles took the field for the second day of training camp. “He has got one of the most open-door policies of guys I’ve been around … It’s really being portrayed outside different than it is inside, because it really is an easy-to-be-around (atmosphere.).

“I can’t comment on what other guys think. I can only go off my experience and my relationship with Chip, Chip is not a racist. (He’s) far from a racist,’ Barner said. “Chip has been there for me in many ways other than football.”

“I can’t answer for any of those guys, of what they’re thinking,” Davis said. “I can just answer from my view, of being in 10 different organizations, with all kinds of different head coaches, schemes, systems, and I’m telling you, from the bottom line, this is a very good place. The players, we do more for players than (anyplace) I’ve ever been around. We do more for their conditioning, their body, their health, their mental health, their growth in all parts of being a man and a player, than anywhere I’ve been around. You can just ask the players about how much — we spend time on them, their mindsets, on their moods, on how their bodies are feeling, the hydration, all of it. I think its a couple isolated guys, and they have to answer their own questions about that.